Story of Astros’ 2012 season summed up in 8-2 loss to D-backs

Tipping point: The Astros fail to turn a difficult double play and at least get one out when Marwin Gonzalez’s flip can’t be handled by Jose Altuve. The go-ahead run scores and begins the Diamondbacks’ seven-run sixth.

On the mound: The Astros allowed 33 runs in the three-game series at Arizona, the most of any three-game set this year.

At the plate: Five extra-base hits including two Scott Moore doubles weren’t enough to do much damage on the scoreboard as the only runs scored directly on the extra-base hits.

Under the radar: Jose Altuve had his second multi-hit game since returning from a much-needed day off. Altuve denied that he was getting tired with no All-Star break or days off, but Brad Mills thought he really needed it.

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PHOENIX — If you saw just one game this year and it was Sunday’s 8-2 loss to the Diamondbacks, you probably got the picture.

For all the “when we hit, we don’t pitch, and when we pitch, we don’t hit,” that the Astros have talked lately, there is another level even more frustrating than either of those. When for several innings the Astros do pitch and do hit enough to grab the lead, there’s always something else that can go wrong.

And on Sunday, just about everything did as the Astros were swept and finished a road trip 1-9 and on pace for 105 losses on the season.

Yes, a 2-1 lead turned into a 8-2 deficit thanks to a seven-run sixth inning against Jordan Lyles, but Lyles’ one bad inning — which has become a habit — doesn’t begin to describe what went wrong. It started even before the Diamondbacks came to bat (and bat and bat).

Chris Johnson was standing on third base in the top of the sixth after having driven in the go-ahead run against struggling righty Josh Collmenter. Justin Maxwell, sitting on a home run, was sent up to squeeze Johnson home, and when the pitch came, he pulled the bat back, leaving Johnson hung up.

It’s the move of a team that has found runs hard to come by, and the lack of execution was only a harbinger of what was to come.

After Arizona loaded the bases on three one-out singles, Lyles got a ground ball he wanted. But Marwin Gonzalez’s flip couldn’t be handled by Jose Altuve at second on what appeared to be a difficult but possible double play, and two runs came in to score, giving the Diamondbacks a permanent lead.

“In that moment, I thought I couldn’t get it with my glove, so I tried to barehand it, and I missed the ball,” Altuve said. “I was just trying to catch it (as opposed to turning a double play in one motion).”

After the unusual events, it was a more traditional maiming. Chris Young predictably homered immediately following the misplay, and while Brad Mills wanted to leave Lyles in to get out of the inning and maybe gain some confidence in being able to curtail bad situations, the 21-year-old righty didn’t cooperate.

He finished the day with 52⁄3 innings pitched and eight runs, five of which were earned. He didn’t walk anybody but left himself again vulnerable to batted balls with only two strikeouts.

“Up to the sixth inning, me and (catcher Carlos Corporan) were doing a pretty good job, and the wheels fell off in the sixth,” Lyles said. “I’ve got to make better pitches when my back’s against the wall.”

The Astros fell to 10-41 on the road, with their team plane mercifully Houston-bound. This was one to forget, but at the same time, it was one to preserve as the lasting picture of the frustrations of the first 31/2 months of the 2012 season.